Trump Admin Asks Supreme Court To Rule On Mail-In Ballots EO

President Donald Trump’s focus throughout his second term has been on lining his pockets and trying to steal elections. His attempts to place restrictions on mail-in voting have been shut down by several federal judges, so now Trump has asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on the issue. 

The New York Times reports that attorneys for the Trump administration have filed an emergency application to the Supreme Court. The application comes in response to a federal appeals court panel upholding a block on Trump’s executive order targeting mail-in voting. 

Trump has spent much of the last year convincing red states to rig their congressional maps and trying to federalize elections. He’s continually pressured Congress to pass the unpopular SAVE America Act, which would impose significant restrictions on mail-in voting and require voters to provide proof of citizenship every time they register to vote. 

Since Congress doesn’t have the votes to pass the SAVE America Act, Trump decided to take matters into his own hands and issue an executive order that limits mail-in voting and requires states to send sensitive voter data to the federal government. 

The executive order also demands that the United States Postal Service (USPS) create a rule that would toss mail-in ballots in states that refuse to send voter roll data to the federal government. Trump hasn’t even tried to hide that these moves are more about disenfranchising Democratic voters than actual “election security.” 

So obviously, those efforts were met with several lawsuits from activist groups like the NAACP to a coalition of 20 state attorneys general.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer called the appeals court ruling “indefensible” in the application. He added that it imposed “serious irreparable harm on the federal government” and prevents federal agencies from implementing an executive order “promoting election integrity in the upcoming federal elections in November.”

I have to agree with Sauer; the block does do all of those things. Almost by design. 

See, the Constitution, you know, the document that dictates most of the nation’s laws, places control of election laws with the states and Congress, not the executive. This point has been hammered home in every court ruling that has blocked Trump’s executive order. 

I guess the Trump administration thinks they’ll have better luck with the Supreme Court. 

While the Supreme Court has been unabashed in its willingness to give the executive branch unprecedented levels of power, several members of the court’s conservative majority also pride themselves as “originalists,” which means they favor an interpretation of the Constitution that reflects what the founders meant when they wrote it over 200 years ago. I don’t know about you, but I think it’s hard to interpret the Constitution’s giving control of elections to the states and Congress as “we should allow the President to manipulate elections as he pleases.”

But I’m pretty sure Clarence Thomas is going to try anyway. 

Recent rulings have also revealed that the Supreme Court isn’t entirely against mail-in voting. Last month, the court ruled in favor of Mississippi keeping a grace period for mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day. 

I’m just saying, if the Supreme Court thought a Texas court striking down a racist redistricting effort was irresponsible because it came an entire year before the midterms, they better keep that same energy for an executive order that would drastically overhaul how elections are conducted only four months before the midterms. 

SEE ALSO:

Appeals Court Upholds Block On Trump’s Mail-In Voting Executive Order

New Postal Service Rule Would Withhold Mail-In Ballots

Federal Judge Sides With NAACP In Mail-In Voting Lawsuit